


Snapdragons, Tiger Lilies, and Carnations, Oh My!

by Kasena



Series: Game On [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Language of Flowers, M/M, Original Character(s), Post-Hogwarts, Pre-Relationship, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasena/pseuds/Kasena
Summary: It's been a few years since the war, and everything in Harry's adult life has calmed down. No dark wizards, no nagging friends. He had a nice job, with a nice routine, that he followed every morning. Or, he used to follow every morning, until Draco Malfoy opens up a shop just a few doors down from him. But it can't possibly be that bad.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Game On [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545865
Comments: 1
Kudos: 65
Collections: Drarropoly 2.0 - A Drarry Game/Fest





	Snapdragons, Tiger Lilies, and Carnations, Oh My!

**Author's Note:**

> **Bonus Prompt:** **Harry** ~~/Draco~~ walks the same way to work every day for years. One morning on his way to work, **Draco** ~~/Harry~~ is outside one of the shops putting out a sign for his new business.
> 
>  **Bonus Item:** D14) Other characters acknowledge the Oblivious idiots
> 
> Thanks to Ibelieveinahappilyeverafter for beta'ing!

Harry walked the same way as always. It had been a few years since the war, so thankfully, his mere presence in the streets no longer warranted crowds and paparazzi. Instead, he only got a few nods from the regulars around the Alley, and a wave or two from the other shopkeepers. It was nice to not have to worry himself with raging crowds, and girls or women trying to dose him up with love potions every opportunity they had. That first year after the war had certainly made him paranoid. But, well, he liked to tell Hermione that it was paranoia for a good reason, and that he had every right to be concerned over things like that.

She never entirely believed him, but he digressed. Looking to one of the buildings that had been empty for as long as he could remember, he paused. It… wasn’t empty. The drab, grey building that had been emptied out since the end of the war when Harry had started to work at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was now filled with bright light and _flowers._ In the windows, in the boxes outside the windows, in pots on either side of the door. If you had asked Harry, he would have said that the shop had thrown up flowers.

What absolutely floored him, however, was when the door opened with a soft ‘tinkling’ of a bell, and out walked _Draco Malfoy._ The man didn’t even seem to see Harry, he was only levitating a sign behind him, and Harry watched him put the sign up at the top of the building using a Sticking charm. The man stood there, his hands on his hips as he looked over the shop, and Harry took the opportunity to walk over to him to examine him properly. He still looked posh and proper, but he seemed… Happier. More relaxed. He was smiling at the shop, and that was the part that really took Harry off guard. “Malfoy?”

He whirled to face Harry, and Harry saw the way he wanted to spit out a response before he took a breath and nodded. “Potter. Can I help you?”

Harry looked at the shop again before staring at him. “What are you doing?”

Malfoy rose an eyebrow at him. “Well, I believe that I’m opening my shop.”

“ _Your_ shop?” What in the hell was Draco Malfoy doing opening up a flower shop in Diagon Alley. Harry opened his mouth to ask that exact question before Malfoy was heading back through the door.

“Yes, my shop. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have a lot more to do.” And the door closed behind him. Harry was left standing out on the walk, staring at the shop.

Draco Malfoy. Opening a _flower_ shop.

Tilting his head back, Harry read the sign that had been put up. _The Snapdragon’s Floral Shop._ Was he supposed to be the snapdragon? That was… actually kind of clever. Looking at the shop again, Harry slowly nodded. Draco Malfoy with his own flower shop in Diagon Alley. Huh. That was definitely a new one.

✶✶✶

It was only two days later that Harry was walking down the alley and looking around at the shops. It looked like Flourish and Blotts had a new biography about him. Harry would have to pick that up later and see what crackpot new rumors and theories everyone was circulating about him.

Tearing his gaze away, he peeked at the broom shop. He needed to get back on the stick, so to speak. It was a good idea, and it would help get rid of a lot of that nervous energy he had. At the very least, he needed to pick up new broom polish, because he was certain his was worn out. At this point, it was sounding like he needed to make a shopping list for after work. And he turned to glance at The Snapdragon-

Holy Merlin. Harry stopped in his tracks. The shop looked like it had been hit by a Bombarda or two. Hearing footsteps coming up behind him, he turned to see Malfoy walking up the alley to his shop. He rose an eyebrow at Harry before turning to look at his shop. Harry watched his eyes widen as he took it all in, and then…

Then he just sighed and started towards the shop. “Malfoy?”

He watched Malfoy stop and turn to him. “Yes, Potter?”

“You’re not… mad? You’re not upset? Your shop was just _destroyed_ for no good reason and it’s only been up two days.”

It looked like something shone for a minute in Malfoy’s eyes, but then Harry also wondered if maybe that was just a reflection of light. “Don’t get me wrong, Potter, I’m absolutely furious, but there’s nothing that can be done about it. If you know anything about whoever may have done this, I would suggest you submit such information to the Aurors, I hear you have rather strong connections with the Ministry.”

Harry bristled at Malfoy’s implications that he used Ron and Hermione’s jobs to his own advantage. Before he could get in a word edgewise, though, Malfoy was creeping his way in through the broken glass door to survey the damage that had been done to his shop.

Watching after him, Harry really didn’t know what to do with him. Now Malfoy wasn’t getting upset after someone _destroyed his shop?_ What was wrong with him? Maybe someone had Charmed him to be nicer? That made sense. That seemed like the only explanation for his strange behavior. Or maybe… Maybe he’d just gotten more mature?

Getting back over to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Harry was still glancing behind himself, trying to reconcile the Malfoy he knew back in school with this new Malfoy who seemed to be entirely different. He bumped into something and stepped away. “Oh. Sorry, Fred.”

“Lost in the clouds there, Harry?”

Looking up to the both of them, he nodded. “I guess so, yeah. You know Draco Malfoy’s got a shop in the Alley, now?”

The twins, to Harry’s surprise, looked to each other and groaned. “Thought we were done.”

“He was all grown up.”

“Past all this.”

“Then he came back in.”

“And there he goes.”

Looking between the two, he gave a shake of his head. He never understood what it was the two of them were on about. So, he may as well keep going. “Yeah, the shop a few doors down that just opened up a few days ago. _The Snapdragon’s Flower Shop._ ” Watching their eyebrows rise, he nodded. “Looked like someone came through last night and busted up the shop.”

As the two of them sighed, he watched Fred shift from foot to foot, and George rubbed at the back of his neck. “Geez. That must have been a great surprise for him to come in to.”

“Great welcome to the neighborhood, isn’t it?”

“Hope no one used any Wheezes products for that.”

“Pretty dick of someone, you ask me.”

Well, at least that meant that this wasn’t a part of some Weasley-Malfoy immortal blood feud. Harry nodded along to their little dialogue they had going. “Yeah, definitely. Here’s the thing. He didn’t throw a tantrum or anything. He said he was pissed, yeah, but he just… got to cleaning.”

The twins looked to each other, raising an eyebrow before patting Harry’s shoulder. “Man the shop, Harry.”

“We’re gonna go say hello to Malfoy.”

Harry turned on his heel to stare at their retreating backs. “Wait a minute- I don’t think that’s such a good-”

“Don’t be silly, Harry. We’ll only be a few minutes.”

And… they were gone. Harry shook his head setting his things down in the backroom. He never understood the two of them. May as well take stock of what they lost in the latest stages of research and development.

✶✶✶

When Harry walked by after work, he was mildly surprised that the flower shop looked like it was back to the way it had been when it had first opened. Taking a breath, Harry walked up the first couple of steps and tried the handle. It was open. He couldn’t say that it was that surprising that it was still open. Malfoy always was a workaholic. “Just one moment,” Malfoy said, not even bothering to look at him as he spelled a few flowers into a vase.

Harry watched as he examined the arrangement, tilting his head this way and that before he raised his wand and rearranged the way the flowers sat in the vase. Was the exact minute way they looked so important? Harry shook his head. He wasn’t sure he would _ever_ understand the man in front of him. When Draco finally nodded, he turned to face Harry. “So, what do you want?”

Well, that was a good question. Harry looked around the shop. It really felt like it was filled to the top with flowers. “You got your shop back together.”

He watched Draco raise an eyebrow before he finally sighed. “I suppose I should offer my thanks to you for sending over your Weasleys.”

Oh. So that was what Fred and George had- Wait. “Sending them over? I didn’t send anybody anywhere.”

That had Draco straightening up as he frowned, looking Harry over. “They said that you asked them to pop over and help straighten up.”

“No, I didn’t,” Harry said with a shake of his head. Why would Fred and George tell him _that,_ of all things? “I told them about your shop, sure, but they were the ones that just decided to come on over.”

To his surprise, Draco finally _snorted_ after thinking about it for a moment. “I suppose it’s all the same. I appreciate the help they gave, though I had been close to not allowing them inside the shop to begin with. It was only after they said you sent them that I decided to give them that chance and let them inside.”

“Why did them saying that make you let them help?”

Draco shrugged at Harry, looking away from him and trying to reproduce that cool, aloof nature he’d commanded when they were younger. It wasn’t working so much on Harry anymore. “I had thought perhaps it was your way of extending the olive branch, so to speak. It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past, now.”

His words surprised Harry, but also… They didn’t. Harry glanced to Draco’s left arm. “It’s in the past, huh?”

“Yes,” he was told, and he looked back up to see Draco staring at him with those piercing, cold eyes. “I try to look ahead, now, rather than backwards.”

Harry did his best to give him a smile. “I guess someone has to. I… still haven’t thought much about what I want to do with my life. I work in the joke shop, right now, and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on everything that’s happened, and the way things could have gone. I try to learn from the past.”

Finally, that familiar Malfoy smirk was back. “Learning? Please. I doubt it, based off the grades I saw you getting.” Well, that was slightly rude and a bit true.

“It has been a couple years since school. People can change in that amount of time.”

The two of them spent a few seconds looking each other over, sizing each other up before Draco finally nodded. “I suppose you might be right.”

The two of them both turned at hearing the bell ring above the door. “I’m here for my floral arrangement.” It was some witch that frequented Diagon Alley, but rarely if ever had stopped into the Wheezes.

Draco turned to the flowers he had been putting together when Harry had come in and picked them up, vase and all. “Yes, of course.”

He handed them off to her, and the witch seemed impressed. “Thank you, Draco. Where’s your mother? I ought to thank her in person.”

His mother? What did Draco’s mum have to do with this? “No no, Charity, mother’s got no such hand in my arrangement. The shop is entirely mine, the work done myself.”

Charity looked like she didn’t entirely believe him. “I see. Do I owe you anything, then?”

“Yes, as already agreed upon, you still owe half of the payment.” He took half before he gave her the flowers? That didn’t make sense. Why not have her pay after he made the flowers for her and gave them to her?

Harry watched with fascination as the woman grumbled and handed over a few sickles. “It’s not a very masculine thing, is it, to be running a floral shop? What would your father have to say about this, Draco?”

Any amusement Draco held was immediately wiped away at the mention of his father. “Pardon my language, Ms. Parkinson, but I don’t give a damn about what my father’s got to say about the matter. Thankfully, we won’t have to bear ourselves with such knowledge, as he’s received a lifetime’s sentence in Azkaban.”

The woman shot him a nasty look and turned and left without another word. Harry took in a sharp breath, looking over him. “Well, that went well.”

Draco seemed to take that moment to compose himself. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Potter, as I need to close up my shop. We do uphold regular business hours.”

Casting a quick Tempus, Harry saw that he was right, and it was just a few minutes from six. He supposed he ought to be making himself dinner soon. “I won’t keep you, Draco. Have a nice night.” He just caught the flash of Draco’s eyes widening before Harry turned and left.

✶✶✶

Harry didn’t stop in again for a few days. Not until he looked in on his way to work, and it looked like Draco was having an argument with one of his customers. Well… It looked more like the woman was having an argument, and Draco wasn’t doing much more than just fielding her responses and trying to keep from escalating the situation. Harry could respect that, but it also looked like it wasn’t working all that well.

Stepping inside like shop, Harry only took a moment to assess the situation before he stepped forward towards the woman and Draco. “Hello there.”

He immediately drew both of their attention. The woman looked shocked and starstruck, staring at him. “ _Harry Potter._ ”

“Potter,” Draco said with a nod to him. Stubborn prick. “As I hope you can see, I’m in the middle of something with one of my customers, I’ll get to you in a moment.

“Uh huh. Yeah, no problem, Draco.” Just like he’d expected, the woman seemed shocked that Harry and Draco knew each other on friendly terms. She didn’t say anything, but just looked back and forth between the two of them while Draco glared at him.

Draco finally sighed, leaning his back against the counter. “Ms. Anders, my charging for my services the same prices that I charge towards any other customer is _not_ blood purity discrimination. In fact, one may say it would be discrimination if I were to give you the flowers your ordered at only half the price that those of different blood purity statuses pay it at. Wouldn’t you agree, Potter?”

Harry thought it over before finally nodding. “Yep. Sounds like discrimination to me.”

Draco smirked this time, his hand held out towards Harry. “There. You see? I’m only trying to serve everyone equally, after all. So it would only be fair of me to insist that you pay the same amount as everyone else, Ms. Anders.”

The woman looked much less impressed by Harry as she glanced to him before finally muttering, pulling out a coin pouch and paying Draco the correct amount. When Draco counted it all out, he smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Ms. Anders picked up her vase of flowers and turned on her heel with a sniff, leaving the shop.

Harry watched after her before finally looking to Draco again. “‘Blood purity discrimination.’”

“Yes,” Draco groaned, rubbing at his temples. “I’m certain that will not be the last I hear of this nonsense.” He looked up at Harry, and Harry saw the hesitation before he finally nodded. “Thank you, for your assistance. It seems you missed your calling with the Aurors.”

Making a face at the words, Harry shook his head. “I like to help people plenty. But working in the Ministry and facing off dark wizards my whole life? Thanks, but no thanks.”

Draco watched him for a moment before finally turning to one of the bunches of flowers. Harry figured that was the end of it and started to turn to leave. “Here.”

Turning back around, he saw Draco was holding out… a flower? “Oh, wow, uh… Thanks?” What was Harry supposed to do with a flower, exactly?

He saw Draco staring at him, and the blond rolled his eyes. “I swear, the day that lapels fell out of our daily wardrobe was the day true culture died.” He leaned forward and, pointing his wand, pressed the flower against Harry’s robes, spelling it on there like a pin that a man might wear on his suit. “There you are.”

“Wow. Uh… What exactly _is_ it?”

“It’s a Tiger Lily.” A… tiger… When Harry looked up, Draco was still staring at the flower, and almost looked sad. “Unfortunately, we haven’t yet bred a ‘Lion’ variation.”

“Uh… Thanks, Draco. Really.”

Draco smiled at him. “Of course. You’ve probably helped me twice or even thrice just in the past few weeks, not counting… the rest of our lives. It’s the least I can do.”

Harry never would have expected Draco to be the type of person to believe that one good deed deserved another. But then, if you had asked him a couple months ago, he wouldn’t have expected Draco to be the type of person to open up a flower shop, either. Maybe there was more to Draco than met the eye. “Thanks.”

Once Harry stepped outside, he pulled his robe up to sniff at the flower. It was sweet.

When he got back to the joke shop, Fred and George were on him in a flash. “Pretty flower, Harry.”

“Malfoy give it to you?”

Harry looked down at the flower. Raising an eyebrow, he gave them a slow nod. “Yeah… He did. Why does it matter to you?”

“Did we say it mattered?”

“No, Freddie, we in fact did not.”

“You’re just too paranoid, Harry-kins.” Not willing to argue with them and have the two of them run him in circles, Harry shrugged the two of them off and started to take stock. September was coming closer and closer, and all the Hogwarts students were stopping in to get their pranks and jokes to get ready for the school year.

Looking through it all, he nodded. They had sold a fair amount of Skiving Snackboxes, it looked… Eyes were on him. Someone was staring at him. Turning, he saw that the twins were whispering while glancing to him. “ _What?_ ”

The two of them looked at him before nodding and sighing. “You just seem very interested in Malfoy these days, Harry.”

“Anything to… confess?”

Opening his mouth, Harry slowly stopped, staring at them with a raised brow. “ _Confess?_ ” George smacked his brother, causing Fred to wince and hold his arm.

“...Nevermind, Harry. You’re not ready, yet.”

Some days, it was better to just not question the two of them.

✶✶✶

A few days later, the flower had started to wilt, and Harry went back into the flower shop for a new one. He wasn’t sure why, but he rather liked the idea of keeping a flower on his robes, now. Probably because the little ones that came around thought it was ‘pretty.’

Popping himself into the shop, he was pleased to see that it seemed like business was picking up for Draco. He had a couple customers browsing around, and one more that he was talking with. The man was taking notes in a small notepad, looking to be very attentive while he did so. “Mhm. Yes. That’ll look perfect. And what’s the name on that one, love?”

“Jensen.”

“Jensen. Alright, that should be ready this time tomorrow morning, all I need is a down payment from you.”

The woman handed over the money with no fuss, and soon enough, she was walking out the door with her little parchment slip. It was nice, that Draco seemed so natural for this. “Hey.” Harry held no reservations about stepping forward and taking up his attentions.

Draco turned to him, rolling his eyes. “What do you want this time? You know, I’m not a damsel for you to keep barging in here, saving from women with shrill voices and hideous purses.”

The image that summoned up in Harry’s mind made him laugh. “No, I know. How much for a flower?”

“A flower? Just the single one?”

“Just the single one,” Harry said with a nod. “The old one is, well, getting old. I should probably freshen up my robes with something else. Any suggestions?”

Looking him up and down, Harry was certain he saw a trademark smirk, but it was gone as Draco turned away to pick up a flower. “A carnation.”

“A carnation?”

“Yes. A green one, in fact.” Draco turned back, removing the lily from his robe and attaching the carnation. Wait a minute.

“You didn’t say how much it would cost.”

“A coffee.”

Now Harry felt like his head was spinning, and he was trying to catch up behind him as Draco ran circles round him. Note to self, never let Draco interact with the twins. It could only end in disaster. “A coffee. You mean you want me to bring you one, or…”

“I mean the two of us should go out for a coffee later. Unless you don’t want the flower?”

Looking down he frowned. “Why a green carnation?”

Now Draco was definitely giving him that wicked Malfoy smirk. “Someone doesn’t know their flower meanings, do they? You may want to look into it. So, have we got a deal, then?”

Grabbing a cup of coffee. With Draco Malfoy. That was definitely something he never thought he would be planning, but there he was. “Yeah. Sure.”

Now he needed to look up what exactly a carnation meant.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you not quite up on your gay history, a couple of centuries ago, gay men would wear green carnations to signify their homosexual affiliations, this being greatly influenced by renowned author, Oscar Wilde.


End file.
